WITH a May election looming, the battle for the hearts and minds began in earnest over the weekend as the Government rounded on Labour’s promise of a 2% cut in the standard tax rate within two years of getting into power.

Millions of people will tomorrow witness the culmination of an historic journey for the Gaelic Athletic Association, without realising the awesome significance attached to the advent of rugby onto the revered turf of Croke Park.

It is not good enough for Justice Minister Michael McDowell and a garda spokesperson to dismiss as “human error” the failure of the gardaí to act on information relating to an international child pornography ring.

LIKE global warming, the repercussions of global corporate decisions can be devastating.

THE time-worn adage ‘easy come, easy go’ springs to mind as politicians prepare to splash out millions on brand new chambers for the Dáil and Seanad.

ANY post office closure is deeply disappointing, especially to the local community, but when hundreds are closing across rural Ireland something has to be radically wrong.

PLANS to establish youth cafes in communities across the State have suffered a setback with the closure of a popular urban centre as a result of anti-social behaviour.

THE Medical Council’s decision to put on its website transcripts of the investigation into three disgraced doctors who had exhonorated the appalling practice of Drogheda obstetrician Dr Michael Neary deserves to be applauded.

IRELAND’S relentless rise in greenhouse gas emissions is a graphic illustration of the Government’s failure to deliver on Kyoto agreement commitments.

THE future of State-owned VHI, Ireland’s biggest health insurance operator, is coming under serious threat and the Government’s community rating policy may have to be torn up following the move by a second company to side-step paying risk equalisation subsidies to VHI.